


The Senator's New Coat

by Millberry_5



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Animal Transformation, F/M, Fluff, Force Shenanigans, Fox is tired and overworked and deserves a nap, Gen, It's fluffy for me at least, Not Beta Read, Pre-Relationship, like one of four peppers on a restaurant menu, little bit of nudity at the end, mild political intrigue, same for the rest of the guard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25673059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millberry_5/pseuds/Millberry_5
Summary: Fox was trained to be an elite soldier for years on Kamino. To fight alongside Jedi to defend the Republic. Instead, he does the very necessary work of guarding Coruscant. A job that involves more doing the Coruscant police's job and babysitting the senate than it should. But Fox is a vode and he is loyal and he will do his job to the best of his considerable ability.This does not stop Fox from wanting to bang his head into his desk and keep it there because of all the superfluous paperwork when Thire shows up with a lost pet fox. And that's before a senator goes missing.
Relationships: CC-1010 | Fox & CC-4477 | Thire, Riyo Chuchi/CC-1010 | Fox
Comments: 11
Kudos: 132
Collections: Clone Wars Saved Exchange 2020





	The Senator's New Coat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tiend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiend/gifts).



> A gift for Tiend!
> 
> (Also please tell me someone gets the title format/reference)

Why couldn’t the senators just have a cafeteria? The senate building was big enough to make one. Especially given the expansive kitchens in the lower floors that event staff used and left empty so frequently. But no, all the senators needed luxury food of Coruscant or of their native fare.

At least the senators who brought their own private chefs only needed to have produce checked once a week or so, usually from only a few vendors. Much better than the senators who had random “high end” deliveries multiple times a day from who knows where. Entire meals that had to be checked. And stars forbid that making sure there wasn’t poison or a bomb made their food two degrees cooler.

Fox let his head hit his desk, carefully avoiding his bucket, before forcing himself to look back at the food check in plans. He wanted to throw the pad across the room. The Jedi temple had a wider variety of species than the senate and they did just fine with a few cafeterias to accommodate everyone’s nutritional needs. They even had a dessert buffet in each one.

He really preferred it when he wasn’t senate bound. At least trekking through the mid and lowers levels on investigations and chases was efficient.

Fox heard the beep alerting him to someone touching the pad for his office door but hadn’t heard the creak of the trick floor panel. A brother, thank goodness. He let his head fall back onto the desk, wanting at least two seconds of blissful darkness before he had to deal with whatever nonsense apparently needed his attention.

“Commander,” his brother said, already sounding both exasperated and apologetic. Fox had a bad feeling about this. This was going to ruin his whole day wasn’t it?

Fox looked up to see Thire holding what looked like a dyed Pantoran fox by its scruff.

“First, put it down on…” Fox looked around his very full office with chairs that he had just gotten cleaned before giving up, “just give it here.”

Thire walked across the room and held the fox out further, making it sway and kick at the instability. Fox grabbed it and quickly settled it onto his lap, holding it down and still with firm pressure on its neck. He took quick note of the odd coloration again, not just a bright light blue, there was also a light purple – lilac, maybe? Colors weren’t his specialty – covering its ears and the top of its head, extending down its neck to the top of its back.

“I presume since you’re here that it’s not a registered pet?” Fox asked, not bothering to hide the annoyed resignation from his voice. There was a reason that senators and aides and their workers had a registration system. Fox just wished at least half of them understood that. Or were at least willing to do the two minutes of paperwork to jump through the hoop.

“Correct. If it wasn’t for the color I would say it’s a Pantoran fox-”

“It is. Someone probably dyed it to match their outfits or furniture,” Fox interrupted. The fox was clearly a Pantoran fox, despite the color, he remembered a few of the domesticated creatures getting imported for a welcome party when the chancellor was trying to influence the new senators from Sujimis Sector. Those, however, had been the normal reddish-brown and golden-yellow colors.

“I also thought it might be, or at least related, so I went to see senator Chuchi. She didn’t answer at her office or work comm,” Thire said, clearly a bit lost.

Chuchi had always filled out the forms she was supposed to, after all. It didn’t seem likely for the unregistered fox to be _hers_ , but it made sense to ask her first.

“Pantoran foxes were exported all along the Rimma trade route and across the core, so there are a number of other senators equally as likely to bring their pet fox with them. For now, get me a pan of the generic litter-” one of the few benefits of putting the guard in charge of so much of the senate’s operations, not just guarding like they were supposed to, was that they could get the things that they knew they needed but no one thought they did. It’s not like this was the first runaway pet “- and a bowl of water. This one will be pretty compatible with generic Coruscant mammalian pet stuff. I’ll keep it here until I’m done. If no one’s called a search party by then I’ll investigate.”

Thire nodded and left – after reaching across the desk and scratching between the fox’s ears – leaving Fox and the fox to the pads upon pads worth of paperwork.

He sighed and, checking that the fox had settled on his lap, he let go of its neck, petting it a few times in reward.

It left his lap at some point to drink water before it jumped back onto his lap and settled down, apparently not minding the armor. At least it was well trained.

Eventually he had to use the fresher and carefully lifted it off his lap before depositing it back on the chair. He pressed down on its neck again, firmly but without hurting it and ordered “stay.”

He didn’t notice the light-footed creature following behind him until he was already in the fresher and its feet and claws tacked on the tile, echoing through the room. Fox turned around to see it following him about two paces behind. It stopped with him, looking up at him for a moment before starting to walk again, entering one of the stalls.

Alright. Someone had trained their dyed pet fox to use the fresher. This was novel but not strange or inconvenient enough for Fox to bother doing anything besides filing away the information and getting on with his own business. At least it would mean less clean up.

* * *

By the time he had finished up his paperwork day and cursed the chancellor and the senators a few dozen times for their inefficiency and egos, the fox had figured out how to nap while perched on the edge of his chair, pressed up against him, so Fox could shift his legs and keep up circulation. There also hadn’t been any senators or aides comming and demanding a search party for a missing pet fox.

“Alright, verd’ika, let’s go see if the Pantora senator is in,” Fox said as he stretched.

He picked up the fox slowly and lifted it towards his shoulder, a bit relieved when the fox scrambled up and across him to drape over his shoulders like he’d seen some other senatorial pets do. He didn’t want to leave the fox trapped in his office, and it seemed well trained enough that he could just take it with him, thank goodness.

Fox made his way out from the guards’ rooms to their front office and nodded at Thire and the two on desk duty, Chimes and a shiny who didn’t have a name yet.

“You need anyone else to figure this out?” Thire asked, nodding towards the warm fur wrapped around Fox’s neck.

“No. I’m checking out the Pantora offices and then a few of the others from planets where they’re common pets,” Fox replied, nodding slightly towards the fox, “if no one claims it I’ll be responsible overnight and try again tomorrow.”

Fox knew Thire would understand the implicit order of finding a potential, and likely needed, replacement for Fox’s patrols tomorrow. They never had much luck when it came to senators who didn’t want to follow rules.

“I’ll comm you if anyone comes looking,” Thire said before turning back to the desk to grab whatever he needed.

“You foxes have fun hunting,” Chimes chimed in gleefully. Fox sighed in annoyance but didn’t deign any response that would enable Chimes, just continuing out the door into the senate halls.

* * *

Fox walked into his small room in the barracks, which was smaller than most senators’ showers, but it was at least private, and waited for the door to close before letting himself slump and sigh. The fox stayed on his shoulders, pulling at the movement and making it feel exaggerated.

He put it on his bunk before sitting on the other end and starting to take off his armor.

“Sorry, verd’ika. Hopefully we’ll be able to find your owner tomorrow,” he said as he finished taking it off, leaving him in his blacks.

He let himself rest for a moment, stretching each group of muscles for a few seconds to destiffen as he almost always needed after a paperwork day. At least in the end he had gotten a decent walk in because of the fox. He glanced over at it to see it looking at him. It looked away as soon as their eyes met, as though embarrassed.

Fox let himself chuckle, “you’re a shy one, aren’t you? That’s fine,” he said, reaching out to pet it. It pushed back into his gloved hand, seeking the contact, “at least you’re well-behaved. That’s more than I can say for most of the senators.”

The fox ducked its head for a moment, and if this had been a cartoon with talking animals, Fox would have assumed it was embarrassed or apologetic.

“You’re going to need a name now, aren’t you?” he asked rhetorically, “since you’ll be stuck with me for another day or so.”

He started cleaning his armor as he thought on it. Vode named themselves or offered a name to others, after getting to know each other very well. He knew that wasn’t how most people named things, especially not pets, though. And he really didn’t want to become Foxes instead of Fox if he was going to cart a fox along with him for another day.

The fox walked over to him, and the light gleamed off of its whiskers oddly. Fox reached for it, catching the end of the whiskers and trying to manipulate them for a better look.

The fox let out a yip as it jumped back, quickly followed by a scream that made _Fox_ jump. It sounded uncannily humanoid. That… surely that couldn’t be a normal fox sound, could it?

Well, first things first, calm it down.

“Hey there, hey,” he said, trying to keep his voice smooth and soothing, “I’m sorry about that, okay? I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to look at your whiskers.”

The fox calmed down a bit, not moving further away and lowering its hackles until they were only half-raised. Fox waited a moment before reaching out, palm facing up. The fox let him get his hand close and then he swung a little wide, bringing his hand to the fox’s side and petting it slowly. After a few seconds the fox turned its face and nuzzled into his forearm.

He carefully moved his hand along its side and used that to slowly drag the fox back over to him, giving it plenty of opportunity to run if it wanted.

“There you go, nice and calm. I’m not going to hurt you,” Fox soothed as he put one hand under its chest, lifting its front toward him while giving opportunity to leave again. He studied the face, watching the light catch on the whiskers again. They were green. He told the fox as much.

“Did you know your whiskers are green? Did you know that your owner dyed your whiskers too?” Fox asked. The nose was still the normal black, thank goodness. Who dyed their pet’s whiskers?

The fox just slipped off of his hand, apparently sensing he was done looking at its face. It climbed halfway onto his lap and nuzzled into his stomach.

“You’re a real nuzzler, aren’t you?” he asked. It had nuzzled him quite a bit when he had been doing paperwork earlier, especially during his headdesk breaks when senators were being too obstinate or superfluous even in paperwork.

The fox made an almost-squeaking, yipping, pseudo-chirping noise that almost sounded like a chuckle, as though agreeing with him.

“Nuzzling, huh?” Fox asked again, mind working through it, “Klenar’ika. How does that sound for a name? Little Nuzzler. We can call you Klen for short.”

The fox looked up at him for a moment before dropping its head again, nuzzling into his stomach before settling its head onto his lap. Fox let himself smile and chuckle at the display.

Klenar’ika it was, then.

He cleaned his armor thoroughly but quickly. As soon as he had put the last piece into place on top of his dresser, he grabbed Klenar’ika and brought it up to his shoulder again. There was a slight questioning noise as Klen woke up, but the fox quickly settled back across his shoulders.

“Come on, Klen, Stone should be back by now with leftovers from a luncheon. A few senators were mad at a few herbivorous colleagues and ordered a lot of meat. There should at least be a few bits of nuna for you to eat,” Fox said as he walked out of the room. Maybe Vish would be back from patrol already and could put his animal expertise to use and check on Klenar’ika.

* * *

Senator Chuchi wasn’t in the next morning either, and Fox left a comm request at the unmanned reception desk for the Pantoran delegation’s office.

It took another forty minutes of fruitlessly visiting senators’ offices to confirm that Klen didn’t belong to any of them before he got the comm call.

“The Pantaoran delegation has filed a missing person’s report for the senator,” Thire said. Blunt and to the point and immediately sending Fox into crisis-action mode.

“Last seen?” Fox barked as the back service turbolift finally opened for him.

“Went into her office yesterday at nine. A meeting with the Eriaduan senator and a guest at ten and then an aide went in at ten-thirty as the meeting ended. The aide, Cyphra Whewhu, reported that she was there and fine. Next time someone tried to contact her was when I showed up at eleven-ten with Klen. She didn’t answer,” Thire reported.

“Start tracking the senator, guest, and aide then. And have someone look into recent and upcoming bills and votes, cross-check with Chuchi’s known factions and voting history. Focus on anything that’s going to be close or controversial,” Fox ordered.

“Already getting on it,” Thire responded before saluting and disconnecting the call.

This was bad. This was very bad and there was nothing he could do but try to clear the rest of his duties. Kidnappings of political figures didn’t usually end well for them and he was functionally useless until intel came in and that _burned_.

Fox sighed and let himself slump. Klenar’ika nuzzled the underside of his jaw and neck, as though comforting him. Fox let himself reach up to pet her.

“Well, there’s nothing for me to do that they can’t until we get more info. Let’s see if we can find your owner before I go off to save a senator,” he said, already resigning himself to an exhausted tone.

* * *

Fox and Thire convened over lunch. It was a small, simple affair. A ration bar for each, with a salad made from “saved” greens and a random dressing someone had snagged from somewhere, and something that was supposedly a dessert that a senator had tried to “anonymously” bribe them with that looked so complicated Fox wasn’t sure how to eat it. One nice thing about senators needing to have plausible deniability about their bribes was that there was too little connection and too much risk to call the guard out for taking the “anonymous” gift bribes and not repaying them.

“No luck on Klen, then?” Thire asked.

“None. A few offers to buy her off of me, a few threats to get the “probably-diseased mongrel” out of their offices, but no one who had any idea on who got a fox recently, let alone dyed it. There may or may not be a trend of dyed pets soon, just to warn you,” Fox added with a grimace, “also, no one reacted to my clarifications Klen’s a Pantoran fox.”

Thire nodded before starting to summarize his morning’s work, “Whewhu, the aide, is a well-documented childhood friend.”

“Jealousy?” Fox asked.

Klenari’ika rammed her head against his stomach from where she’d been napping on his lap. Hard. She let out a single gekker before shaking her head like she was trying to dissolve the pain. Fox put down his fork and petted her head, checking for any injuries. The little thing must have shaken itself out of a dream.

“No. Highly unlikely,” Thire answered once it seemed like Klen was calming down, “she’s got a dual degree in environmental and civil engineering. Only in politics or here as an aide because her friend asked her. The Eriaduan senator, Brinter, isn’t really a friend, more often an opponent. But xe are from Eriadu, which shares a trade route with Pantora. Chuchi had apparently been making overtures to try to lessen the animosity. The guest was from one of the extraction guilds that apparently has influence on Eriadu. As for Chuchi being a target… she’s a very prolific senator, especially considering her relatively low profile. There are dozens of bills and laws that she’s involved in or declared her intention for that could potentially make her go missing.”

Fox let the information digest for a moment with his salad.

“Keep light surveillance on Whewhu, just in case. Stranger, worse things have happened. Keep investigating the Eriadu connection, especially the guest. Focus on the legislation Chuchi was supposed to vote on Benduday,” Fox ordered, petting Klen lightly when she whined.

“Will do. Also, Chuchi was preloading her votes. She apparently scheduled to do forty a day this week. Her votes uploaded yesterday after Whewhu left. The staff insist that all the votes are in line with her declared intent and usual sympathies, but they won’t let us access the exact records, just log-ins for the system,” Thire explained.

Fox sighed, understanding why the delegation wouldn’t let them know the specifics, but still annoyed at being denied the information. They wouldn’t be able to get an overriding warrant until any leads there would be useless if they wanted to find Chuchi alive.

“Anyone check out the office itself yet?” Fox asked, finally reaching for the desert.

“Nope. It’s been sealed off as usual, but I was going to head up there with Stone after this,” Thire said.

Fox thought for a moment as he picked off what he was pretty sure were just sugar sculptures to get at what seemed to be the actual pastry of the desert.

“I’ll take the office investigation. You and Stone whip the rest into following those information leads,” Fox ordered. Klen looked up at him at the tone. Maybe her owner used something similar sometimes?

“You sure, commander? Would have thought you wanted to yell at them yourself,” Thire asked, a small smile on his face.

“I think that’s going to be a slow slog better suited to your patience,” Fox explained as he gave up on the thing that was certainly not a pastry, “I’ll be the juggernaut making sure we get access to that office and everyone else stays out.”

Thire shrugged in acquiescence before dropping his dessert onto his plate as well, also giving up on it.

“Besides,” Fox continued with a smirk, “there’s already quite a bit of gossip about me running around with a Pantoran fox, and nothing still about a missing Pantoran senator. Going to ask her about taking care of Klen is a great cover to keep this quiet like the delegation wants,” Fox explained, lifting Klen to show her off to Thire before putting her back on his shoulders.

Thire just chuckled, shaking his head in amusement as they collected their trays and headed back to work.

* * *

“Hey! Don’t touch that! Klen!” Fox half-shouted as he raced across the room.

He scooped the fox up and swung her away from the terminal, holding her out as he looked back at the screen.

He let himself groan as he pulled Klenar’ika tight against his chest.

She’d somehow gotten into the pre-voting system. All the way to the page thanking her for submitting her votes.

“Why did you have to live up to your name now of all times? Never mind. That’s my fault for naming you that, no wonder you stuck your nose where it doesn’t belong,” he muttered as he scrolled down the screen.

The bad news was that there really was no way to unsubmit the votes. The good news was that Klen seemed to have voted in line with what Chuchi would have voted herself, as far as Fox could tell. He wasn’t really an expert on law or any of these bills. And, well… he wasn’t exactly opposed to one more vote yes on Organa’s latest attempt to get them rights. Even if it was just the insulting right to quit service instead of desert.

Klen started wiggling and Fox let her after a moment when he realized she was just trying to get back across his shoulders. It made bending over harder, but at least it would keep Klen away from terminals and under direct supervision.

“Well. Congratulations, Klen. You are officially a more effective, harder working senator than most senators.” It wasn’t like more than a few hundred ever bothered with following the guard’s instructions, let alone using the more efficient political systems like pre-voting, which also made for a nice backup when senators went missing or were otherwise indisposed. “All though I’m not quite sure you’re up at Senator Chuchi’s level yet. She does seem to be one of the best. Always working hard, unless she goes missing, of course.”

Klenar’ika looked up at him for a moment before nuzzling his neck and jaw enthusiastically. Fox couldn’t help but chuckle at how sweet she was and pet her in return, despite the misbehavior.

“We really need to find her,” he said soberly. Thire should have commed him by now with something. Especially since he hadn’t found anything in the office. Whatever methods had been used to disappear the senator left no trace, or at least no trace that was in the office.

The Pantoran delegation was unfortunately, despite being friendly and polite, very private. The office had plenty of alarms but was scarce on cameras after the reception area. If there were any secret passages used as emergency exits, then the staff was refusing to divulge them. It had taken Fox two minutes for them to show him the two linen closets; one of which was still a linen closet, the other of which contained a bed for the senator or anyone else unexpectedly spending the night.

Fox sighed as he walked towards the door. Klen seemed to press harder into him, a comforting warmth. Fox resealed the office and said a quick goodbye to the tense staff.

Thire better have gotten some results by the time he finished making his way back to the guard’s rooms.

* * *

“Wasn’t Stone supposed to be helping you?” Fox asked first when he got into the terminal room.

“Hello to you as well, commander,” Thire said in a lightly pointed tone.

Fox tilted his helmet to indicate he was rolling his eyes.

“Stone is likely at the temple by now. The senator’s associate doesn’t exist,” Thire explained, which explained nothing.

“In the same way Senator Chuchi currently doesn’t exist?” Fox snarked back.

“The guild that the guest claimed to be from exists and has ties with Eriadu. But the specific company doesn’t exist. False name as well. False documents. But there were some interesting script designs on the tunic once the guest took off their outerwear. Took a while to find a few similar designs on those Jedi and Sith conspiracy forums. Stone took the files to the archives directly to get some actual information,” Thire said.

And that sounded like an actual lead. Finally.

“Good. So, it’s probably the senator. Any ideas on motive?” Fox asked.

“A few different options. Eriadu wants better trade deals along the Rimma trade route and a senator that can handle the Trade Federation is hard to take advantage of. Senator Chuchi was on committee for a few of the anti-corruption bills that are being voted on tomorrow. Senator Chuchi was also likely to vote opposite on the Extraction Laborers Assessment of Treatment and Regulation Act revisions, which is apparently going to be close,” Thire explained tiredly.

Klenar’ika had voted no on the revisions, as Fox recalled. So, if Eriadau was looking to eliminate an opponent on cutting regulations they had actually failed.

“All right,” Fox said seriously, “and did you put Chimes and Eyes on psychological profile? How likely are we to be looking for a corpse?”

It had been over twenty-four hours. Even if the point was to prevent Chuchi from voting tomorrow, the statistics were still against her. Fox tapped his foot in frustration as he unwillingly tensed, shoulders rising slightly. Klenar’ika shifted and seemed to press her soft warmth even more potently against his blacks, warming him and reminding him to release his tension. There was nothing to fight right now and so the tenseness wouldn’t help anyone, least of all the senator.

“Very unlikely, thank goodness. Apparently Brinter is part of a religion that considers murder as the worst crime imaginable, and that after death your soul is tortured for all the years you denied the person before being destroyed, instead of purified and reincarnated. The religion has enough influence that political kidnappings are very prominent on planet, but they haven’t seen an assassination in over five centuries,” Thire explained.

Fox felt a bit more of the tension that he’d been carrying since they got the missing person’s report drift away as he let his shoulders fall even more. Chuchi was probably alive. They were looking for a missing senator, not a corpse.

Thire’s comm unit beeped on his belt. Thire held it between them and answered the call. Stone’s bucket and torso flickered into view.

“Report,” Fox ordered casually. An arm appeared to give him a loose salute before Stone started talking.

“The decorations are close to sigils used by an old Sith cult, called the Naddists. They focused on a lot of Sith magic. The specific symbols are apparently for their alchemists. Madam Nu said that their alchemy ‘accomplished great things, but was unstable, and undid itself sooner rather than later’ they were also apparently wiped out millennia ago,” Stone reported.

“Until one showed up in Senator Chuchi’s office, I take it?” Fox said, not bothering to hide the snark. A Sith was just what they didn’t need. Ever. But especially not when a senator was missing.

“Madam Nu said that people have claimed to have restarted the cult multiple times, and sometimes even use the texts and try the alchemy. But no one actually counts as Sith for… reasons,” Stone clarified. At least as much as force nonsense usually got clarified.

Fantastic. A wannabee Sith cultist. In a political abduction case.

Fox let himself groan and tilt his head up to the ceiling. Klenar’ika nuzzled right above where his chest plate ended.

* * *

Fox slid under his sheet, mildly pleased when Klenar’ika jumped up without hesitation tonight. She’d been a bit timid for a minute or two while Fox tried to cajole her up the night before. Tonight though, she jumped up and circled a few times before curling into his stomach without any hesitation.

Fox let his physical stress bleed away, even if his mind was still stirring from everything, and relaxed into the sensation of the soft warmth curled along his body.

“Sorry we couldn’t do much to find your owner today,” he said softly as he moved an arm above the sheet and slowly petted Klenar’ika, “everything took a backseat to Senator Chuchi’s case. And we don’t exactly know how to pamper you like you’re probably used to, either.”

Klen lifted her snout until her head was lightly pressed against his chest and nuzzled into him.

“We put an announcement in the system, but not everyone bothers to read that. If we don’t find your owner in the next three days, we’ll find a shelter to give you to. Somewhere upper level, if we can,” Fox murmured as his tiredness started to overtake him.

Klen whined at that, almost sounding like she understood him and didn’t want to go into a shelter, instead of wanting him to renew his petting. Fox tried to keep a good amount of petting going but was sure the rate dropped off as he got closer and closer to sleep.

* * *

Fox woke up to the universally annoying sound of a chrono. He groaned and started to roll over, only to hit something warm and soft and freeze himself. He had almost rolled over Klenar’ika. The fox whined a little at the shift regardless of non-injury as she woke.

It was a cute little whine, sleepy and confused. Fox let himself chuckle as he reached over her to shut off the chrono, taking extra care to not intrude on her space.

Klenar’ika was still curled up along his chest and stomach, keeping the both of them close and warm. It seemed like neither one of them had moved overnight.

“Alright. Another day. It’s a session day, so we’ll have to spend most of the time guarding. The rest of the day will probably be spent investigating Chuchi’s case, so there won’t be much time to find your owner. Do you want to come with me to guard the senate chamber? Maybe your owner will finally come by and see you,” Fox asked as he scratched under Klen’s chin.

She just pushed back into his hand and made a purring sound, which was cute and as intelligible as the rest of her fox sounds. Fox decided he could spare a minute to continue making her happy, it would probably be the last pleasant part of the day. Especially if Stone and Hound made more fox jokes at him during breakfast.

* * *

Fox let his helmet clunk onto his dresser as he half-fell down onto his bunk.

The senators had been as pointlessly shouty as usual, many to the disgrace of the Republic they were supposed to serve. And the session had gone on until dinner. Which had left Fox and most of the guard very little time to continue with the investigation. At least they had been able to spare a few to keep investigating paper trails throughout the day.

The weight on his shoulders shifted before Klem jumped off beside him onto the bunk. Fox couldn’t help but chuckle and give her head a few pats. She had only misbehaved once, and Fox couldn’t bring himself to scold her for that, not when the knocked-over statue had distracted Senator Veers and Senator Mothma from a fight that would have been sure to expand.

“Sorry, girl. Couldn’t find your owner today either,” he said softly, taking off his gloves to let himself enjoy the soft fur.

None of the senators that passed his post had claimed the fox. And he hadn’t had time to go really search. He had spent the last few hours fruitlessly working on Chuchi’s case. They’d managed to track the guest alchemist to a space port, where he got on a cross-core transport that morning with a few hundred others. They hadn’t found what identity was used to buy the ticket or get on the transport or any hints about where Senator Chuchi was being held.

Fox would have to split anyone he could spare the next day between tracking the alchemist, trying to find a hint on Chuchi’s location, and trying to figure out how to handle Brinter. Spooking xem would mean increased risk for Chuchi, regardless of cultural mores, all though it could also mean flushing xem out enough to find Chuchi. And they also definitely had enough poof to charge xem, but the priority was getting senator Chuchi back.

Fox was torn out of his thoughts by Klen nuzzling up his side and then across his stomach until her head was resting on his leg. Which was still armored.

“Well. I suppose all those problems will have to wait for tomorrow,” he said, carefully guiding Klen’s head onto the mattress so he could stand and put away his armor, “and tomorrow’s almost here, so we better get some shut eye.”

Their nighty routine, because Fox actually had a bedtime routine with a blue and purple fox now, went by quietly and peacefully, albeit tiredly. Fox slipped under his blanket a few minutes before midnight, laying down on his back.

“We’re going to find your owner, Klenar’ika,” he promised softly as he petted the fox’s head, “and if we can’t I can at least guarantee that we’ll find a good adoption shelter for you, okay? We’re not so useless as to be unable to manage _that_ , even if it isn’t part of our jobs,” he said, unable to stop a bit of bitterness from leaking into his voice.

It was all just so incredibly frustrating and made him feel an irritated kind of hopeless. That the only thing he could seem to guarantee anymore was finding a shelter for a pet fox. His training on Kamino seemed as useless as every other siege nowadays. And if he had to pass one more graffitied meme on his next patrol around Coruscant about “meat droid clumsiness” or “Republic rights to self-destruct buttons” he was pretty sure he’d-

Klen moved herself from being curled up along his side to resting half on top of him, a warm weight across his stomach with a soft head to pet on his chest distracting him. Fox obliged the position by giving her the requested pats and scratching under her chin. She started purring after a minute of that and Fox could feel his eyes close of their own will as he started drifting closer to sleep, relaxing from the soothing sensation despite all of his tension.

A few minutes later, when his attentions had slowed and he was almost asleep, Klen let out a surprised noise, halfway between a whine and a yip.

Before Fox could even open his eyes, barely jerk himself closer to full wakefulness and awareness, there was another, nearly indescribable noise. It was an odd combination of wind and a firecracker and a comm unit or another machine trying to connect, all merged into one sound heard like it was right next to his ear underwater.

Suddenly there was a much larger weight on him, causing his eyes to fly open as he fully woke up.

His eyes met senator Chuchi’s.

Senator Chuchi. Who had been missing for the past two and a half days.

Fox couldn’t help but glance down to confirm that there was an entire missing senator on top of him. He quickly glanced away as he realized that not only was she really there, she was currently straddling him while completely naked and bracing herself on his chest.

“Co- Commander, Fox,” Senator Chuchi exclaimed, voice tense and relieved and a bit confused. Which seemed perfectly appropriate, given their current positions and recent events.

Fox also hadn’t seen Klenar’ika when he glanced down. A Pantoran fox with blue fur except for the purple on her head and green whiskers. Who had showed up between the time that Chuchi was last seen and confirmed to be missing.

“You, ah, you were…” Fox tried to ask, trailing off. Because it was too ridiculous to not confirm and make sure that what he thought happened had indeed happened. But it also felt ridiculous to ask.

“Yes! I… um… the “guest” of Senator Brinter, the alchemist. Brinter said he had brought special tea to share. We usually had tea when meeting together so I didn’t think anything of it. But that was the only new thing I had done that day so I think that was why I… why I turned into a fox,” Chuchi blustered out.

“Right,” Fox said, nodding as he kept his eyes resolutely on the wall across the room. The tea set would have been taken by a droid to be cleaned like all the other dishes, eliminating that evidence. But it was a good lead for the investigation. Which would now be about prosecution instead of rescue, thank goodness, “I’m glad you’re back without harm, Senator. All though it will be prudent for you to see doctor regardless.”

“Of course,” the senator said, still sounding nervous, “you can look at me, you know,” she said softly.

Fox felt instantly torn between following the order and following the decorum he had beaten into himself since he was put in charge of the Coruscant Guard and the Senate.

“I… If you wish, senator, in your current condition, I can of course,” he replied, giving himself another moment of wall-staring to steel himself.

“Condition? Wh-” Senator Shushi began, before letting out a shrieking, panicked yelp, “So sorry, Commander. I hadn’t realized that I was- that- I, um-”

Fox quickly lifted the blanket up a few inches until it pressed against her stomach, silently offering the covering while still staring at the wall.

He felt her grab the blanket and shift off of him quickly, making the chill of the room hit him in a sudden wave.

“Okay, that should be fine. You can look now, Commander,” Chuchi said, still sounding a bit flustered, but a bit calmer than before.

Fox carefully looked over, and made sure to only meet her eyes, looking no lower. She was blushing, her nose and cheeks, and the area going up around her eyes, a darker color that looked almost purple. The green cheek markings were unaffected, making them stand out even more.

“Thank you, commander, for taking care of me these past few days,” Chuchi said, a shy smile growing wide on her face.

“Of course, senator, it’s my duty to protect the Republic and its officials, as well as all citizens,”

“Yes, but you didn’t know that. You didn’t know I was a person, let alone a senator. You just got handed a fox and took care of me for nearly three days on top of all of your regular duties,” Chuchi said, getting a bit more excited as she gestured in her apparent excitement.

Said gestures also meant that the blanket was dislodged enough to fall down. Chuchi let out a relatively quiet shriek of surprise and embarrassment. Fox quickly threw his head to the side as he screwed his eyes shut, throwing one hand over his eyes as well for good measure. He fumbled beside the bed with his other hand until he found his dresser and opened the top drawer. Thankfully clones didn’t need or get a lot of clothes. Not finding a set of blacks was harder than finding one.

“Here, please,” Fox said, holding out the set he’d grabbed. Chuchi grabbed it a second later before Fox heard the shifting of fabric. He kept his eyes closed and covered and his head turned away.

“Okay. You can look again,” Chuchi said softly, sounding a bit demure, a tone which Fox hadn’t heard since her first speech to the senate.

Chuchi was indeed now much more securely dressed, although she was wearing his blacks wrong. She’d wrapped the sleeves up and around her neck, tying them at the top to look like a flower, somehow. The Republic’s cog was at least still centered, if a bit lower. And the rest of the blacks were surprisingly loose on her. And she was blushing again.

“The, uh… jumpsuit was a bit loose. It wasn’t really staying on my shoulders… I meant it though. Thank you for taking care of me. I know it wasn’t easy on top of everything else,” Chuchi said.

“It’s just my duty,” Fox replied. Chuchi had always been one of the nicer senators, polite and made the overtures of acknowledgement towards the guard and the rest of the GAR. But this was getting a bit ridiculous. At this rate Fox’s face would probably heat up enough that _he_ would start blushing too.

“Then you must at least let me be grateful for your being so dutiful, commander,” Chuchi replied, sounding a bit more like the self-assured person she’d grown into recently. Her posture was straighter too, more confident now as she leaned back towards him slightly.

“We should… you should return to your delegation, senator. They’ve been very worried about you,” Fox said, a slightly reprimanding tone – usually used on shinies who had just gotten through their first spot of trouble and needed to be told that they had actually been in danger, which was bad, and that Fox and the rest of the vode worried and cared about them – reflexively worming its way into his words.

“I know… I’m glad this over, as lovely as having you as a bed partner was,” Chuchi said, tone saying she was trying for levity, but Fox couldn’t really process that over the words themselves. He was definitely blushing now. “No! Not like that! Just… you were very warm and gentle and reassuring. You felt strong and steady. I felt safe with you and far less anxious. I wasn’t exactly a fan of the… fox thing,” Chuchi explained hurriedly before trailing off, blush renewed.

“Understandable,” Fox replied stiffly, glancing away, not sure how exactly to respond. This situation itself was just so ridiculous, he was pretty sure no one would know how to react, least of all the two them who were actually involved.

“Yes, I think I’ll leave the fox domain to you, Commander Fox,” Senator Chuchi joked, a hint of stiffness in her voice as well, betraying that she also wasn’t sure what to do in this situation.

They fell into an awkward silence.

“May I escort you back to your delegation, Senator Chuchi?” Fox asked, breaking the quiet after what must have been at least a full minute.

“Riyo,” the senator replied. Which made Fox confused for a moment, until the word and its likely meaning here registered. Then he was alarmed and confused.

“What?!” Fox exclaimed. Because the idea of- the implications of her giving her name here were unfathomably ridiculous.

“Yes. Yes, you may escort me back to my apartment. And you may call me Riyo. We did, after all, go to bed together three times. It’s a bit rude to keep calling me like we just met,” she said, blush finally retreating to just her cheeks, and a playful look on her face. Fox was almost certain he was blushing more now.

“Of course, Senator… Riyo… I suppose you should just call me Fox, then?” He choked out after few seconds of just staring at her. That was what you were supposed to do in these situations, he was pretty sure.

“If you would like me to, Fox,” Senator Chu- _Riyo_ said, a cheerful, wide smile on her face as she moved a bit closer, still leaning forwards towards him. Her hair swung a bit with the movement almost hitting his shoulder.

Would it be ruder to move away from her or to stay in her personal space? It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to being in people’s personal space – he was a vod, after all – but he knew most nat borns, especially senators, had very different ideas of “too close” than he and his vode did. But Chuchi didn’t seem adverse, he supposed. And they had, as she herself had pointed out a few times already, spent the past few nights together. But the soft looking hair being so close, on top of that cute head, made Fox want to pet her out of habit. Fox made sure to tighten his hands on the sheet and his knee. Chuchi, no, _Riyo_ , cocked her head in question, reminding Fox that he was supposed to respond.

Fox nodded half a second later when he couldn’t figure out what to say. Riyo’s smile just grew brighter and wider, somehow.

Fox cleared his throat to try to buy a bit of time before giving up. Instead he just huffed out a small sigh and slid off the bed. He realized too late through putting on his dress greys that he had taken his sleep pants off in front of the senator, and couldn’t help but frantically look back at her frantically. Riyo was politely looking towards the room’s door. Fox quickly finished buttoning up his coat.

He moved back to the bunk and held out his hand, offering it to Riyo. She took it, smiling at him again. Fox could see her stiffen to hold back a shiver as her feet hit the floor.

“I could see if we have a spare pair of boots? All though I don’t think I can find any in your size,” Fox offered, a bit ashamed despite the fact that he and his vode really had no reason to have anything but their shoes in the barracks.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Riyo said with a small laugh, “I plan to shower as soon as I can back at the apartment anyways. I had to lick myself clean the past few days and, despite a fox’s body being designed for it, I have to say that I dearly missed the ability to shower. Much more soothing than chasing my own tail to stuff into my mouth.”

Fox couldn’t help but smile in shared humor as she laughed. It truly was a ridiculous situation she had found herself in, and it was equally impressive that she seemed to be dealing with the aftereffects so easily.

They made their way out of the barracks, thankfully not running into anyone this late at night. Fox made a mental note to mark Riyo’s missing person file as resolved as soon as he got back. The barracks also thankfully had a private garage that included a few speeders and speeder bikes. And a few dozen spare helmets to comply with safety regulations.

Riyo actually shivered when her feet hit the duracrete floor, instead of the industrial carpeting of the barracks. Fox debated with himself for a moment and, when Riyo shivered again as her other foot hit the cold floor, scooped her up and put her across his shoulders.

“Fox!” she exclaimed but didn’t struggle or ask to be let down as he walked them across the garage.

“No point in being anymore uncomfortable than you’ve been the past few days,” Fox replied, once he had deposited her on a two-person bike and could talk to her face again, “If there’s anyone on this planet to deserves to avoid the fate of cold feet, I think it’s you.”

Riyo didn’t reply, just blushed again.

Fox went to the nearest helmet rack and grabbed a helmet for each of them. Riyo accepted hers and put it on, moving to properly straddle the bike. Fox settled in front of her and was a bit surprised by the arms quickly wrapping around him and the soft warmth pressed up against his back.

“Is this okay?” Riyo asked, voice pitched a bit higher and louder than it needed to be. She was probably unused to helmets.

“If it makes you feel like you’re securely on the bike, I’m fine with it. Although I might also suggest using the seat restraint,” Fox said, moving to activate his own seat restraint.

He was pleasantly surprised to hear a click of Riyo activating her own seat restraint a second later. Fox let himself smile behind his helmet as he started the speeder bike and rode out of the garage into the midnight rush hour.

The trip to Riyo’s apartment building was thankfully uneventful. A few near misses from drunk drivers and rubbernecking tourists. But by and large it was just Fox weaving them in and out of traffic, Riyo holding onto him securely and moving with him well when he leaned and turned the bike.

They arrived at a fancy high-level building, vast windows and artificially created gardens taking up the first floor and surrounding property. Fox winced as he took in how many more floors of windows there were. It seemed like a security nightmare, regardless of all the fancy cameras and sensors Fox could see as well.

Fox tried to let go of Riyo’s arm as they walked up to the front doors, but she tugged him through into the vestibule instead of letting him let go. There was a biometric scan that unlocked a pad that Chuchi had to work for a moment before the doors to the lobby opened. Four shiny protocol droids, two on each side, greeted them. Riyo dismissed them as she dragged Fox through the lobby to the turbolifts.

The gilded doors slid open and Chuchi tugged him once more into the lift, thankfully empty. The lobby had thankfully been empty as well except for the droids and a few drunk aides Fox was pretty sure belonged to various Abregado delegations. Perfect examples of why the slang “drunk and clueless as a window-owner” even existed in the lower levels.

He heard Riyo sigh once the doors closed, and looked over to see a tired, relieved expression on her face. She noticed him looking and smiled back at him.

“Thank you for escorting me back, Fox. I’m sure that will help calm everyone down a bit. That and the fact that I was actually under your protection for the past few days,” she said. Fox wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.

“I’m glad you’re safe in the end, Riyo,” he said after a moment. It was true. Crazy Sith alchemists and political intrigue and way too few clues didn’t usually end this well, especially not for the few politicians who actually voted to benefit people. He was very glad she was safe.

It really had been a ridiculous misadventure, hadn’t it? Fox wondered how grumpy Thire would be if Fox woke him up when he got back for drinks and venting.

Riyo smiled up at him knowingly, and Fox couldn’t help but also wonder what she knew.

“Thank you, Fox. You’ve made what was going to be a very bad experience not unpleasant and kept me safe. You should go get some sleep, I think we’ll both need it for tomorrows,” she said as the lift slowed down.

Just as it came to stop, she grabbed the sleeve of his coat and tugged him down and to the side, throwing him actually off balance for once.

He felt something soft and a little wet against his cheek, and then he was let go and automatically straightening. The doors opened as he realized that Riyo had kissed him on the cheek.

The sound of a datapad hitting the floor struck him out of his stupor and he focused on Cyphra Whewhu and her teary face as she cried out. Beside him, Riyo laughed and dashed out of the turbolift to let her friend give her a hug.

Confident that the senator was now officially not missing, Fox stayed in the lift. Riyo, and therefore Whewhu, looked back at him as the doors closed. Fox gave them a salute goodbye, but also let himself give them a small smile. He saw Riyo start to smile back before the doors closed completely.

He was definitely waking up Thire for a drink.

Riyo might have been right about needing sleep for whatever nonsense tomorrow was going to be, but if he had a drink in the rec room he could just vent to Thire until they both fell asleep, leaving him well rested to help Riyo re-enter the senate tomorrow.

And if he also needed to vent about how soft and nice Riyo was and how his heart beat a little louder each time he said or thought of her name? Well, he was planning on getting Thire drunk too.

**Author's Note:**

> If you got transformed into a fox and got to cuddle Fox for three days and sleep against his chest, wouldn't you want to give him a nice cheek smooch in reward too?
> 
> Also, basically the wannabe Sith alchemist brought "tea" that was a potion that transformed a person into an animal for a few days, which Brinter thought would be a good way to prevent Riyo from voting for a few days/in the upcoming session. The potion didn't take effect until it had been digested, which gave them enough time to get away and drink the antidote to prevent transforming themselves as well.


End file.
